This invention relates to composite materials, in particular head metals, and products manufactured therefrom, and also coatings for metallic articles and the composite products formed thereby.
Hard metals have found a wide commercial use over a considerable period of time, for example in metal-cutting tools and as wear-resistant coatings for metal components. The hard metals employed for these purposes typically comprise particles of tungsten carbide, formed as a dense compact with cobalt acting as a binder for the particles by sintering or hot-pressing.
The success of known hard metals has brought with it the problem that the products for a large range of uses rely on the availability of tungsten an cobalt as essential ingredients and it is an object of the present invention to provide a hard metal in which the use of one or both of tungsten and cobalt is avoided or can be reduced as compared with conventional materials.